North Rhine-Westphalia: NRW can plan more tax revenue with 13 billion euros

Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) – According to the latest tax estimate for the years 2022 to 2026, the North Rhine-Westphalian government can plan more income in the state treasury than previously estimated, totaling around 13 billion euros. This emerges from a submission by the Ministry of Finance to the specialist committee of the Düsseldorf state parliament published on Tuesday.

Compared to the tax estimate of November 2021, there is an increase for all years. For the current year, the tax budget can be corrected upwards by more than 1.7 billion to around 71.8 billion and for 2026 by almost 3.5 billion to around 84.2 billion euros.

In these figures, the originally even higher forecast of the May estimate has already been adjusted for various corrections that would result from unresolved federal participation, according to the template. This is the case, among other things, with refugee and asylum expenses and in the day-care center area.

Finance Minister Lutz Lienenkamper (CDU) explained that the additional tax revenue remaining after the correction deductions was not fully at the free disposal of the budget legislator. On the one hand, additional income increased the payments to the municipalities. On the other hand, certain items are earmarked – for example to support refugees from Ukraine.

Overall, all levels of government, from the federal government through the states to the municipalities, can expect additional tax revenues totaling 220.6 billion euros for the period from 2022 to 2026 compared to the November estimate. Like all economic research institutes, the Federal Government’s current spring forecast assumes a significant decline in real gross domestic product (GDP) for the current year compared to previous assumptions, said Lienenkamper. “Nevertheless, the German economy remains on course for growth.”

According to the forecasters of the federal government, real GDP growth will be 2.2 percent, 1.9 percentage points lower than expected in autumn 2021. The EU Commission’s new spring projection puts GDP growth in Germany at just 1.6 percent.